Miguel Cotto's Training Heats Up for Manny Pacquiao

TAMPA, Fla. -- Although Miguel Cotto was scarcely 15 minutes into his nearly two-hour workout at the Fight Factory gymnasium on a sweltering, balmy Tuesday afternoon, sweat already was glistening over his chiseled upper torso, and his saturated, synthetic, black pants clung to his legs like shrink wrap.

The WBO champion is only four weeks into what will be a nearly three-month training regimen, here in Florida, an exercise that is taking place outside of his native Puerto Rico for only the second time in his career.

The 28-year-old Cotto is preparing for a Nov. 14 defense of his welterweight (147 pounds) crown against Filipino sensation, Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) at a catch-weight of 145 pounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

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"No matter where I'm training, I'm always doing my best -- on the track and in the gym, everywhere. But the last fight with Josuha Clottey, and this one, they're very important in my career. You have to stay away from any kind of distractions, you know?" said Cotto, staring up at reporters from a seated position on the black steps leading into a large boxing ring.

"Puerto Rico is my country, and I live there. And a lot of distractions come to me when I'm there," said Cotto, whose full video interview can be seen by clicking here. "I'm here in Tampa just for the things that you have to do in my training camp -- training, rest, training and rest. I'm here doing my work, and you will see the results on the night of Nov. 14."

Cotto's effort took place before nearly a dozen members of the media, but on Wednesday, he'll be scrutinized by even more eyes, according to promoter Bob Arum.

Arum said a crew from HBO's 24/7 series will be on hand to document the budding superstar's activities, which will include sparring with southpaw Fred Tukes of Atlanta, and Kenny Abril of Rochester, N.Y.

Tuesday's workout was comprised of shadowboxing, working the heavy bag and jumping rope, as well as general calisthenics that included abdominal work.



"I'm working for everything I think he's going to do, and I'm pretty sure that we're not going to have any problems the night of the fight," said Cotto, adding that he will have put in three months of work in preparation for Pacquiao.

"I had a lot of trouble making the weight when I was a champion at 140, so if we thought we would have trouble making 145 pounds, we wouldn't have taken the fight," said Cotto, who weighed around 158. "Trust me, I'm in my best shape ever."

Cotto is coming off of June's 12-round, split-decision victory over Bronx resident Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) of Ghana, during which the Cuagas, Puerto Rico, native was cheered on by the partisan crowd's chants of "Cotto, Cotto" as he defended his crown at New York's Madison Square Garden.

With his victory before the 17,734 mostly Puerto Rican fans -- his sixth fight without a loss at The Garden -- Cotto rose to 34-1 with 27 knockouts, proving that he could bounce back from the vicious beating that he took during an 11th-round knockout loss to Mexican Antonio Margarito in July of 2008.

Although he had vanquished Michael Jennings in five rounds at The Garden in February, Cotto's matchup with Clottey came against an opponent who not only had gone the distance with Margarito, but who had all but promised to take advantage of what he considered to be a fragile psyche as a result of the punishment Cotto had taken against Margarito.

Against Margarito, Cotto had suffered a bloody face, a broken nose, was knocked down once and bled from his right eye.

Against Clottey, Cotto overcame a cavernous laceration over that same right eye left bleeding against Margarito. In addition to the questions about his heart and his chin, Cotto also overcame the upheaval in his corner.

"For this fight, Miguel's value went up," said trainer Joe Santiago, who was working as Cotto's lead trainer for the first time against Clottey. "He showed a lot of courage and a lot of heart."

Cotto floored Clottey for the first time in Clottey's career in the first round and showed that he would not back down by slamming Clottey to the canvas following a fifth-round clinch.

"A lot of people wondered why I didn't allow the fight to be stopped, but I spent more than nine weeks preparing for the Clottey fight to make a great fight and a great show for the fans all over the world," said Cotto. "There was a lot of pride on the line with myself and my family. No matter what the situation, no matter what the vision in my eye was, I always told the referee, 'I'm good.' "

Cotto entered the Clottey fight without his uncle and longtime primary trainer, Evangelista Cotto, with whom he had split following the Jennings fight because of an altercation that involved a cinder block being thrown through the window of Cotto's Jaguar.

Cotto, instead, received instructions from Santiago, who for three years had been a member of the fighter's training camp. In addition, Cotto replaced his longtime cutman, Miguel Diaz, with Joe Chavez.

Cotto had blamed Evangelista Cotto and Diaz for failing to go into Margarito's dressing room to check his pre-fight wrappings, as is customary for every fight.

"Even in my loss to Margarito, when I sit and I think of the fight, I realize that I had already done a great job," said Cotto. "I was happy with what I had done already, so I didn't think that I had too much to prove to anyone."

Before having faced Margarito, Cotto already had earned wins over former world champions Shane Mosley, Zab Judah and Carlos Quintana, the latter of whom handed former two-time welterweight title-holder and one-time junior middleweight (154) king, Paul Williams, the lone defeat of his career.

Mosley has since knocked out Margarito, who was placed on a "revocation of his license" following his bout with Cotto for allegedly using a plaster-like substance within his gloves.

Margarito's penalty was levied against his boxing in California. He is eligible to reapply to California Athletic Commission for a 2010 license after Jan. 1, 2010 at which time the Commission will consider wether or not to issue a new license.

"I've been in good fights with Judah, Mosley, Clottey. If people saw Miguel Cotto in all of those years, and they didn't believe in me, then what else do I have to do," said Cotto.

"For those people not to believe in me, I can't do anything else," said Cotto. "I'm here mostly to prove to myself that I'm better than Manny Pacquiao. I'm doing this for the pride of my family, my kids and my country."